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A wide choice of topics covered from the dawn of history right up to present days . Many of these have a wider relevance than purely within the context of Strathearn . The author's viewpoint often is at variance with the accepted opinions espoused elsewhere eg The Jacobite Uprisings and The Reformation .

The Rev McAllister And A Religious "Punch Up" In Crieff

I have written on several occasions in these
blogs about churches and in
particular church buildings . Crieff has had
over the last two centuries a
host of
large and small places of worship . Some like
the old Relief Church hidden and inaccessible between Addison Terrace and
High Street are sad remnants of different way of life . Of all the church buildings in Crieff , two I
find unique and worthy of preservation .The Catholic Church in Ford Road is a wee gem having been built
in 1871 to the design of Andrew
Heaton Jr who believe it or not designed Keillour Castle near Methven some eight years later . My other favourite is
the dominant sand stone edifice of the old Crieff Free Kirk and latterly
designated the Crieff South and
Monzievaird Church . Built in 1881- 82 to the design of JJ Stevenson and Robert
Ewan it is modelled on nearby Dunblane Cathedral and is built from Alloa sandstone , a richer
coloured and more workable stone
than its local equivalent. Sadly it has
been lying empty since 2006 and
the last Minister ,The Rev Henry AG Tait, better known as Sandy , died last year .

The story about its
construction and history is a fascinating tale of Victorian Presbyterian hypocrisy and dissension and not a little skulduggery ! It starts at the time of the “ Disruption “ in 1843
when 450 Ministers walked out of the General Assembly of the Established
Presbyterian Church of Scotland – the Kirk as it was generally known .The
reasoning behind this was over the rights of the congregation to choose
their own Minister and not
appoint someone chosen by the
local Laird or the person who was seen locally as the “ Lord of the
Manor “ in an English context . Known as “patronage “ it was deeply resented by many Scots Presbyterians and it was reason that they all got up and walked away from the Assembly . In Crieff there were
at the time , two Established Church of
Scotland churches , the Parish Church in what is now Church Street and the West
Church on the Comrie Road which was a

“ Chapel of Ease “ or
an extension to the main church . The Minister was one Finlay McAlister
who had been appointed in 1839 when the
church opened . McAlister appears to have
been a fairly strong individual if perhaps not a
bit opinionated ! We have an account of his demeanour in the little pamphlet
produced in 1982 to mark the church’s centenary :

“ He seemed to be at loggerheads with one of his elders
Alexander Menteith of Broich House, perhaps
because both men were autocratic
and unbending. Whether there was any other
reason for their antagonism is not recorded
but certainly Mr Menteith was not happy until the Minister retired ”.

McAllister had been
born in the Parish of Rothesay in the Island of Bute – incidentally the same
place that my maternal ancestors
hailed from over many generations . He had quickly determined that the secession from the Kirk and the setting up
of an independent Free Church was
what had to be done . He
must have been a persuasive
individual because the vast majority of
his congregation supported his decision . This began some
four years of vituperative behaviour from both the seceeders and the establishment
. McAllister and his followers refused to leave the building . The bitter
tension eventually saw the Church of Scotland achieve a valid title
to the building and a legal enforcement was enacted
to get the keys
handed over and the protesters summarily ejected . They did not
leave however in a passive mood or indeed in the spirit of Christian fellowship
! Our Victorian Presbyterian forbearers had a pretty strong feeling of “ we are right and you are wrong “! Before departing the building they wrote the word “
Ichabod ! ” on the walls and defaced many
of the pews .The term Ichabod was a biblical reference to the Book of Samuel in
the Old Testament and indicates that the building was no longer the House of
God . The break away congregation did
more than just desecrate the building , they took away the Communion
Plate and all the Church documents bar
one ! It was nearly one hundred
years before they were duly returned !

View of the West Church taken about 1900 from Carrington Terrace

Religion played an important
part in the Scottish way of life in the 19th Century . The national or established church , the Presbyterian Church of Scotland
had throughout the 18th and into the 19th Century held a
strong grip over the morality and
general behaviour in most of Scotlands’s 900 plus parishes . The Kirk
Session ( the committee of senior members of the congregation or elders ) ruled in a virtual
dictatorial manner and could summon members to appear before them or indeed the whole congregation
to “ seek repentance “ for crimes ranging from adultery to milking
your cows on a Sunday morning ! Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns was a
regular occupant of the penance seat in
his local church . Burn’ s penned the phrase “ the fornication police “ for
that august body of men !

The Church of Scotland endured numerous
breakaways and “ disruptions ” or
schisms over the years . The first of many occurred in 1733 and it was over the question of patronage an issue that was to raise its head again more than a century later . After 1843
there were more adherents in Crieff of
the non Established Presbyterian Churches
than the of the original body . The two largest were the Free Church and
the United Presbyterian Church which were to amalgamate in 1900 . It would appear from the records that many of the town’s leading citizens and local land owners were members
of the breakaway bodies .Apart from Menteith of Broich ( Menteith Street iss named after him ) there were others such as Dr Thom of McDuff Lodge , Mrs McDougall who was a Wright of Milnab Tannery . She donated £ 1000 to the Free Kirk plus £ 200 to aid the poor in or around 1870 - a large sum of money at that time . Lewis Miller - the ploughboy who made a fortune out of timber and built Bennachie ( Richmond Hosuse ) when only in his 30s paid for the cost of the steeple to the UP North Church to ensure it was at least 3 feet taller than the adjoining Parish Church !

The newly formed Free
Kirk in Crieff had left the old Kirk in
a somewhat shaky state . Problems occurred
over filling the vacancy in the West
Kirk now that Mr McAllister and his followers had departed .The following was
written in 1912 in Porteous ‘ History of Crieff
:

For some years there was
no settled minister , the pulpit being
filled by members of the Presbytery or licentiates . Finally one Mr Mucklewraith
was chosen , who is only remembered from the circumstance that on one occasion
he rebuked the members for coughing in Church . He was succeeded by a Mr
Law ,who left in 1856. Both of these
were shadowy ministers , whose names are barely remembered “.

After being ejected from the West Kirk the Free Churchers arranged a temporary use of the premises of
the old established Crieff Masonic Lodge in Comrie Street . They then procured a site in Commissioner Street and erected a simple structure that today is the Crieff Primary
School Dining Hall .

The first Free Church in Commissioner Street

With the congregation expanding a move was made to construct something considerably
grander . They had already
built a “ mission hall “ and
bought a site at th junction of Comrie
street and Coldwells Road – very close
to their old base of the West Kirk . It opened
for worship in August 1882 . The design was imaginative and
based on many of the features of
Dunblane Cathedral . An impressive feature
was the 130’ high steeple which still dominates much of the landscape in this western part of the town. It perhaps
was a sign of growing “ women power ” as the Victorian era drew
slowly to a close , that the
church bell was gifted by the female
members of the congregation from monies
raised .

A somewhat unique picture showing the Free Kirk under construction in 1881

In 1929 the breakaway was healed when the Free Kirk ( now known as the United
Free Church ) at last re-joined the established Church of Scotland . As the
years passed Crieff found itself with a multiplicity of church buildings
and dwindling congregations . In 2006
it eventually closed as a church and although it
functioned for a short while as
an antique centre it too eventually shut its doors . This grand
building was sadly slipping into the inevitable decay
pattern – a malaise that seems to strike small towns like Crieff .

There is however a glimmer of hope on the horizon as a
local design and build company have
lodged a planning application to transform
the building into a 13 bed roomed hotel
to include a Hammam-style spa and
self-catering accommodation. The church tower, inspired by Dunblane Cathedral will be turned into a VIP guest suite, with a
bedroom at the top of the structure. The ground floor would house seven rooms
and the Moroccan-style spa .

It would be a great reprieve for a great building .
Wonder what old McAllister is thinking about up there !

An impressive edifice !

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